Inductees 2012 - Jahna Cedar

Jahna Cedar

This year’s youngest Hall of Fame inductee Jahna Cedar will celebrate her 28th birthday today as her work with indigenous jobseekers in the Pilbara region is being publicly acknowledged.

Formerly employed by Bloodwood Tree, an Aboriginal community welfare business in Port Hedland, Ms Cedar helped indigenous people find jobs.

She said one of the greatest rewards had been witnessing their growth in confidence.

“A lot of them haven’t had past jobs or don’t believe they have any skills that are transferable,” she said.

The mother of two has also been a strong advocate for her community. She’s sat on committees and boards, done motivational speaking in schools and was chosen to represent the Australian community at last year’s United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York. She was also selected as the under 18s representative on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission delegation to attend the UN third preparatory committee for the special session on children in 2001.

She is considered an inspirational role model.

“Seeing a lot of negative media reports on indigenous people drives me to go out and push for positive stories and more positive things in the community,” she said.

“My great-grandmother was a full-blood Aboriginal. She went through a lot so I work hard to show her (that it) wasn’t for nothing.”

She now works in traineeships and youth recruitment at the Centre for Excellence in Rail Training in Perth, having moved from Port Hedland.